Heart of Ice
by SNR00
Summary: How can I touch this frozen goddess. I know deep inside, My human body can't withstand her very presence. There has to be a way... There should be a way for me to reach out and hold her. There's a warm pulse beneath that heart of ice, and I will show her that I'm the fire to start it. / ZellxShiva, SquallxRinoa, SeiferxSelphie and others!


Sticky note:

_Of course I don't own final fantasy and this is purely fan made._  
_I'd like to point out for the readers that some contents _  
_ are not exactly aligned with the base story of Final Fantasy 8._

_I'll make this quick, so there you have it._  
_Enjoy your reading!_

- SNR00

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. Chapter 01 .

**Frost**

Green fluid scattered throughout the ground, it had splattered over the tree roots and all over this young blonde haired young man. Squinted eyelids slowly revealed sapphire colored eyes beneath them. The green goo smeared off his face as the boy reached over to wipe his eyes with his hands. The tattoo marked on his face was a lot more visible after cleaning his face up.

"Ya didn't have to go and overdo it, ya know." He uttered, still disgusted by the fluid he's covered with.

The blonde haired young man looked up to see the goo dripping off the edge of his friend's gun-blade. Quickly he lunge his body forward, with a little push from his feet and arms to get himself up. He had his hand lingering in his hair to remove any chunks of the green goo. His friend in front of him, had his back turned. He flicked what remained of the green goo his blade had been drenched with.

"Let's call it a day… I'm tired." His friend uttered in reply.

"You seem to be in a hurry."

"Just tired…"

"Bullshit! You got a date with Rinoa don't ya, Squall?"

"Let's go Zell."

Squall made his way around the large Bite Bug's carcass and walked towards Balamb Garden. Zell following not too far behind, he quickly got the M-stone Piece from the carcass. The last piece of material he needed for his weapon upgrade. Zell pulled out 4 pieces of the stone from his pocket and a fish fin on the other. The boyish grin on his face appeared as he nodded to himself.

"This should do it! Thanks a lot buddy."

"Don't mention it."

The two arrived at Balamb Garden, it wasn't a long trip considering the Bite Bugs usually surrounded the outskirts of Balamb. Coming back from their hunting, at the gates they could spot a black haired lady eagerly waiting. She wore her favorite blue sleeveless cardigan and had her black hair down as usual. She turned to them as they came into the Garden's entrance. The sweet smile on her face faded as she puffed her cheeks and furrowed her eye brows. Squall quickly shuffled away from Zell as the lady stomped to Zell's direction. Zell began to panic a little and flinched once she got close enough to him, and he shut his eyes quick.

"I told you, I had a surprise for Squall… and you still took him on a hunt." She flailed her arms playfully.

"He-he, Sorry Rinoa." Zell laughed sheepishly.

"I made reservations and everything…" She lowered her head and let her arms hang, pointing to the ground as she slouched.

The young lady known as Rinoa stood back up straight and caused Zell to step back in surprise. The boyish grin on Zell's face never melted off, he was thoroughly entertained by Rinoa's reaction. He stepped back some more seeing the expression on Rinoa's face changed and she spun to turn to Squall. Both of them could see Squall quietly making his way into the Garden, probably hoping he wouldn't get in trouble.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rinoa called out.

Squall turned his head and looked over his shoulder, with the usual melancholic face he had on.  
"…Going to our date, remember?"

"Well, this is when I take my leave. I'll see you two later!" Zell waved goodbye before sprinting back out of Balamb.

The two turned and waved goodbye in return, Rinoa with a smile on her face and Squall giving a wave as he continued to walk into the Garden.

"H-Hey wait up!" Rinoa stuttered.

**- :: Balamb Town :: -**

"Woooohooooo!" Zell rejoiced as he ran around the docks of the town.

Zell stretched his hands up to the sky as he began to admire the new gloves he had on. The materials he gathered earlier with Squall was able to make the Metal Knuckles he was wearing now. It wasn't much but it sure was a great thing to be able to get a new pair of gloves. In excitement Zell began to jog in place, thrusting a few jabs of his fist in the air. One two, pause. One two, jab. Lost in his own practice he didn't realized the next set of jabs would be pointing towards the in coming ship that had just arrived. Zell broke from his concentration and took his attention off his fist and towards the direction they were pointing. It was a ship from the Garden. Out of curiousity Zell rushed to see who had came back from Dollet, the town across the island.

"Hmm..." He hummed.

The hatches unlocked and four people came out from the ship. They were familiar to him; one was tall and robust, the other was a lady in blue with an eye patch over an eye, the third being a blonde haired young man with a large white coat and the fourth was the headmaster of the Garden. Zell stood up on the railing at the edge of the dock to get a better view from where he stood, but he was certain that those were Raijin, Fujin, Seifer and headmaster Cid. Normally, those three spelled trouble. Adding headmaster Cid in the equation would mean that they were in trouble. Zell's mischievous grin spread on his face as he threw himself into the blue clear ocean. He then began to swim closer to the dock they had arrived on, and surfaced peeking over the dock just enough to eaves drop.

"I'm sure you three did a fantastic job in Dollet, Thank you for heading out to clean up a few stray monsters in the city." Cid spoke out towards the three.

"Honored." Fujin replied.

"Yeah it was no prob headmaster, it's our job ya know?" Raijin agreeing with Fujin.

"Now I have one last thing to do for the three of you." Cid made his way towards the cargo unloaded from the ship. "These items won't be transferred back to the Garden until about 2 hours from now, seems like there's a bit of a road block in the path way to the Garden just recently."

"Monsters?" Fujin wondered.

"Correct. Some of our SeeD members have already been dispatched to take care of it, but might take some time." Cid answered.

"So you want us to baby sit these crates and bags?" Seifer abruptly spoke out.

"There are some important artifacts in these crates and bags that are worth researching about." Cid moved towards Seifer.

"No way, We're not sitting here for 2 hours." Seifer walked around Cid and the other two began to follow.

"Seifer, It's a command not a request. No other SeeD member is in Balamb at the moment and you three are in front of me."

"Grrrr..." Seifer turned back and sat on one of the crates. His two henchmen of course followed and made them selves comfortable around the crates.

Cid bowed in gratitude and made his way towards the car waiting for him near by. It seemed like he was going to see what the fuss was all about at the road block towards Balamb, leaving the three stooges to safe guard some important items of the school. Zell shook his head at this idea and sighed watching Cid's car drive off into the town. He looked over at Fujin sitting on the crate where Seifer was, then to Raijin who was impatiently pacing. There seemed to be no sign of Seifer though.

"I knew someone was here."

Zell felt the water around him began to circle him and push him up, eventually throwing him into the dock and in front of Raijin. Zell turned and looked at Seifer who had his left hand out, after casting a water magic. Fujin stood to her feet in surprise and Raijin loamed over Zell before picking him up from the soaking dock floor.

"Whatcha doing eaves dropping, chicken-wuss?" Seifer smirked.

"I dropped something in the ocean." Zell placed a hint of sarcasm into his words.

"Oh, I did that once too ya know?" Raijin interrupted the little heat between Zell and Seifer.

"Shutup, Raijin he's lying." Seifer glared over at him. "Take him down, lets see if those new gloves of his does any good."

Raijin threw Zell to Seifer's feet and before Seifer could unsheathe his gun blade, Zell rolled over and pushed himself up on his feet. Having a better knowledge of his surroundings Zell was prepared to fight, he had a focused look on his face and a bounce to his steps. He gripped his fist tightly and watched Seifer take out his gun blade. Before he could utter a quick remark, Seifer rushed to Zell with great speed. Zell's foot work was remarkable though, with a quick side step he aimed a jab to Seifer's stomach. In that moment, he could see a smirk surfaced on Seifer's face. Zell looked down to where his free hands were. Seifer had his free hand aiming into Zell's chest, with a fire spell charging right between them.

_Fizzzzzzz. _The bolt of fire pushed Zell away from Seifer before he could land his jab, it threw him into the crate's direction. Zell landed into the items, and caused a mess. The crates were moved by the impact, some items from the bag began to fall onto the dock's floor and some fell on Zell. Seifer chuckled looking down at him with his gun blade pointing towards Zell's neck. It was quick entertainment but the smile on Seifer's face faded when he could see Cid's car coming up from the street corner. Raijin picked up Zell and held him in midair in a tight bear-hug.

"What happened here?" Cid yelled as he came out of his car.

"Thought someone came sneaking in for the crates and found Zell Dincht meddling around." Seifer reported, some what panting.

"No, they broke into a fight sir." The captain of the ship, who had witnessed the entire thing stepped into the docks.

"Is that so... Well then, the four of you will be fixing those crates back in order." Cid said firmly. "As well as loading them into the cargo truck over here."

"Ridiculous!" Fujin spoke outraged.

"What? I thought the pathway was blocked, ya know? It might be dangerous to move them now, ya know? lets do it later! " Raijin urged.

"I had your instructor Quistis, her students Selphie and the newly transferred student from Galbadia Garden, Irvine Kinneas help clean up the mess." Cid responded. "Quick enough, the path is now cleared."

Zell looked down to the soaked floor hearing the name, that specific name that hold so much regret to him. It was a long time ago, and there's nothing he could do about it. It wasn't like she ever felt the same with him anyway. He was just another impulsive boy, like everyone considered him to be. It was done and over with, Zell was almost certain he was happy for her. It's only that sense of regret that keeps him from ever moving on.

An hour has passed and the students had already loaded the crates into the cargo truck. Seifer, Fujin, Raijin and Cid had already departed to head back to the Garden. Zell decided to stay behind for a while, He leaned over the railing of the docks from where he fought Seifer. He was filled with regret and disappointing, for one he let Seifer get the best of him and began to fight. Secondly, Zell was disappointed at how little progress he had in combat. Zell stared into his new gloves, thinking there was much more to learn than just a quick thrust and jab here and there. It never crossed his mind to use any magic attacks.  
Then again, it felt a little cheap that Seifer was using magic in a competitive sparing. There was also a fact that he's known to do that.

As Zell began to linger deep in his thoughts, a glimmer in the water had broke off his musing. He could see a golden item at the bottom of the waters. Instantly he'd figured it was an item that fell out from the crate and sunk to the bottom. He took a deep breathe before deciding to throw himself into the water and retrieve it. He swam to the bottom to where the object laid, looking closely he realized it was a golden lamp. Must have been one of the things the head master said that was worth researching about. Something like this couldn't only be used for decoration. Zell surfaced back on the docks with the lamp in his hands. As soon as he sat down properly at the edge of the dock, he opened the lamp. Nothing had happened.

"Guess it's just a junk." He mumbled to himself, examining it from different angles.

**- :: Balamb Garden :: -**

Zell continued to be disappointed with himself, he didn't seem to think he made any progress at all. Compared to Squall and Seifer he still seemed like he's just a parasite. He lowered his head and leaned on the computer desk, as he sat alone in the classroom. His head pressing a couple of numbers here and there into the computer built into his desk. He let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. Not only was he incompetent in battle but he sure felt lonely when it came to women. There were a couple of girls he's been with, but they never seemed to work out. This didn't really help his self-esteem at the moment, thinking about his failed relationships as well as his lack of skills.

"There you are." A voice echoed in the room.

"Hmm?" Zell lifted his head up to look over his computer screen.

Squall stood by the door way of the classroom, he gave a quick nod before walking over towards Zell's desk. Zell stood up from his seat and leaned on the side of the computer screen, his hands over his chest.  
He wanted to make sure Squall didn't see the burned portion of his shirt, this would just cause some trouble for the team hearing Seifer went around using magic on students. Squall looked over and opened a hologram screen from the wrist watch he had on. This was known as the Operating System. A student can review items they've collected, Guardian Forces, available magics that can be used, the Junction system and of course if they wish to save any data the student has gathered that day.

"I've got something for you." Squall muttered. "Pull out your OS."

"Alright." Zell nodded.

Zell opened the hologram screen from his watch and examined what Squall was doing. He seemed to be moving a few things around and gave Zell a few more magic spells as well as something very interesting. He Junctioned something to Zell and attached the magics under different areas. Zell looked at him baffled. Finally when Squall finished he looked at Zell and sighed.

"I was looking for you. I've already distributed a couple of GFs within our team. Please take care of her." Squall nodded in a short conclusion and turned his back to walk towards the door.

"Take care of who?"

"Shiva."

"Shiva?"

Squall sighed and turned around once more. "A Guardian Force, I'm assigning her to you."

"Oh, I've heard about them before. They're suppose to help in combat right?"

"Mhm, Good luck." Squall turned around once again and walked to the door. "If you have any questions about the Junctions, Study some more."

Zell growled a bit using both his hands to scratch his scalp frustrated. "Gaahhh! I forgot to read all about them. We have a test tomorrow too..."

Squall had left the classroom, leaving Zell with his thoughts once again. He sat back down on his seat and let out a long sigh. The day was long and tiring, mostly boring. Zell looked into his Operating System and looked over Shiva's status. She was doing fine, seemed like she was currently at a low level. This should be a good opportunity to improve his skills. If he failed to at least show some improvement now with the help of Shiva, It's back to the drawing board with him.

The hours of the night came quick, He didn't realize the time go by as he sat in the empty classroom pondering to himself. Suddenly, Curiosity struck him. Zell stood up and made his way down near the teacher's desk, where there was much more space to move about. He began to shuffle his feet and shift his body as he threw meaningless punches in the air.

"Made no different..." He sighed.

Zell reached into the Operating System once again and looked into the Junction once more. He found an interesting command. It said, Summon. Without hesitation, Zell had initiated the command and suddenly the room came to a complete drop of temperature. Soft mist began to pile into bits of frost on the floor. He watched in awe, while he could see his own breathe forming in front of his eyes. Eventually a crystal formed irrupted from the frost on the floor. There she was in a deep slumber inside the icy crystal, it was Shiva. Zell came closer to the crystal as the mist began to disappear. He gazed into her face, frozen yet warm to his soul. She looked not of this world. It was both exciting and scary all at the same time.

Immediately Shiva opened her eyes and broke out of the crystal. The shards crashing to the floor, falling to his feet as well. Zell covered his face quickly with his arms as the shards came crashing down on him. At this moment, Zell had realized that this was a terrible idea. He could see Shiva quickly forming something in her hands as she lifted them over her head. It was magic, suppressed in such a tiny piece of dust.  
Zell's sapphire colored eyes widened and his mouth opened.

"N-No..." He mumbled.

It was too late, Shiva couldn't hear his command and finished gathering the magic into her hands. In a blink of an eye, she unleashed her frozen fury unto the entire empty room. The desk, seats, windows and doors were completely plunged into an instant ice age. Everything was engulfed in ice, except Zell. He watched as the ice instantly broke, shattering all of the items frozen into unrecognizable pieces. Zell looked around to see the destruction and power she possessed. It was indeed enough to make his very soul shiver, in both delight and fear.

"N-No... I..." Zell stuttered.

Shiva had realized that there was no enemies nearby, she was completely use to being summoned in mid battle. This was the first time anyone has every summoned her outside the command of attack and obliterate. She seemed surprised as she turned her head to look at Zell.

"Gahhhhhhhhh! I'm ganna get in so much trouble!" Zell began to scratch his head with both his hands once more in frustration.

He stomped a few and finally flopped onto the floor and sat still. He gazed over the frozen rubble that was once his homeroom class. This wasn't looking too good at all.

"Why can't I do anything right? I can't fight, I can't seem to make anything happened properly..." He sighed. "I can't even tell Selphie how I felt... Now she's with that guy..."

Shiva stepped down from the air, and mist encircled her feet. Frost formed on the floor on areas she'd step on. She made her way towards Zell, who was completely at a lost of words like she was. Shiva tip toed and began to hover over Zell, who was now laying down on the floor. She looked into his eyes, and Zell did the same.

"I don't deserve you." Zell mumbled.

Shiva's facial expression seemed confused and shocked. There was never any form of gratitude or compliments said by the one who wields her powers. Further more no one had ever summoned her inside a class room for absolutely no reason. She looked into his eyes, continuing to examine him. She was trying to figure out what her purpose was, that she was summoned.

"I just wanted to meet you..."

Zell looked into her eyes, soulless and with no real purpose as to why she had such a cold stare. This was enough to send shivers into his spine, or maybe it was the frozen floor he was laying on. He began to fade in and out of consciousnesses. He then realized that Shiva was coming closer, putting nearly no space between them now. Her body laid over his and he could feel the cold mist pouring from her and onto his body. Before his eyes came to a complete shut, he could feel her ice cold breathe meeting his warm still breathing. There was no doubt about it, her lips were just hovering his. Before he could ask, before he could see what would happen next, Zell had blanked out.

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_Thank you for reading the first chapter !_

_I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
Reviews would be nice, tell me what you think!_

_I'll have the next chapter up soon!  
Depends if there's enough people actually interested  
in the story. :)_

-SNR00


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